Business Management
14%of exam
Workforce Planning + Talent
14%of exam
Learning + Development
10%of exam
Needs AnalysisTraining DesignEvaluationSuccession
Total Rewards
15%of exam
CompensationBenefitsIncentivesPay EquityRewards
Employee Engagement
17%of exam
LifecycleSurveysPerformanceRetentionOffboarding
Employee + Labor Relations
20%of exam
ComplaintsInvestigationsDisciplineSafetyLabor
HR Information Management
10%of exam
HRISRecordsReportsSecurityData Integrity
Quick Facts
- Exam
- PHR
- Credential
- Professional in Human Resources
- Time
- 2 hours
- Questions
- 90 scored + 25 pretest
- Pass
- 500 scaled
- Delivery
- Pearson VUE or OnVUE
- Validity
- 3 years
- Credits
- 60 recertification credits
FAIR HR
Good answers stay FAIR.
FactsApply policyInvestigateRecord
Time-fill vs Time-hire
Time-to-fill
- Starts at requisition
- Measures staffing speed
Time-to-hire
- Starts at applicant
- Measures candidate speed
Define start point first
HR Action Picker
- Vague business problem→Clarify context
- Legal risk appears→Escalate review
- Policy gap found→Update procedure
- Manager wants shortcut→Apply process
- Metric conflicts→Define data
- Culture issue repeats→Reinforce values
- Change affects employees→Plan communication
- Risk spans groups→Audit pattern
Business Context
- Strategy
- Business direction
- Operations
- Work execution
- Stakeholders
- Affected decision parties
- Culture
- Shared behavior norms
- Values
- Expected conduct anchors
- Ethics
- Fair lawful choices
- Risk
- Threat to objectives
- Policy
- Written expectation
HR Metrics
- Turnover
- Separations over headcount
- Attrition
- Unreplaced workforce loss
- Time-to-fill
- Requisition to acceptance
- Time-to-hire
- Applicant to acceptance
- Cost-per-hire
- Hiring spend per hire
- ROI
- Return versus investment
- Absenteeism
- Missed scheduled work
- Yield ratio
- Stage conversion rate
Validity vs Reliability
Validity
- Measures job requirement
- Supports selection defense
Reliability
- Consistent results
- Repeatable measurement
Need both for selection
Talent Picker
- Work changed→Job analysis
- Future headcount gap→Workforce plan
- Narrow applicant pool→Broaden sourcing
- Inconsistent interviews→Structured questions
- Selection disparity→Adverse impact review
- Early turnover→Onboarding audit
Talent Foundations
- Forecast
- Future workforce demand
- Supply analysis
- Current workforce capacity
- Gap analysis
- Demand versus supply
- Job analysis
- Work requirement study
- Essential functions
- Core job duties
- Job description
- Role summary
- Job specification
- Worker requirements
- RJP
- Realistic job preview
Selection
- Validity
- Measures job need
- Reliability
- Consistent measurement
- Structured interview
- Same job questions
- Background check
- Post-offer verification
- Adverse impact
- Disparate selection effect
- Nepotism
- Relative preference risk
- Offer letter
- Employment terms summary
- Onboarding
- Role integration process
ADDIE
Build training through ADDIE.
AnalyzeDesignDevelopImplementEvaluate
Learning Models
- Needs analysis
- Find skill gaps
- ADDIE
- Design cycle
- Objectives
- Measurable learning outcomes
- Mentoring
- Career guidance
- Coaching
- Performance support
- Succession
- Future leader pipeline
- Kirkpatrick
- Training evaluation levels
- Compliance training
- Required risk instruction
Total Rewards
- Base pay
- Fixed cash wage
- Incentive
- Performance-linked pay
- Bonus
- One-time variable pay
- Benchmarking
- Market pay comparison
- Salary band
- Pay range
- Pay equity
- Fair pay comparison
- Benefits
- Noncash employee programs
- Recognition
- Noncash appreciation
Coaching vs Discipline
Coaching
- Develop performance
- Support improvement
Discipline
- Correct misconduct
- Document consequences
Match cause and severity
Engagement + Performance
- Lifecycle
- Hire through exit
- Survey
- Employee sentiment data
- Focus group
- Guided employee discussion
- ERG
- Employee resource group
- Action plan
- Feedback response steps
- PIP
- Performance improvement plan
- Retention
- Keep valued employees
- Exit interview
- Departure feedback
Union TIPS
Managers avoid TIPS during organizing.
ThreatsInterrogationPromisesSurveillance
Exempt vs Nonexempt
Exempt
- Duties test matters
- No overtime required
Nonexempt
- Track all hours
- Overtime after forty
Title alone never decides
Employment Law Picker
- Pay or overtime→FLSA(Wage-hour)
- Medical leave→FMLA(Protected time)
- Work restriction→ADA(Accommodation)
- Protected class→Title VII(EEO)
- Union activity→NLRA(Concerted rights)
- Safety hazard→OSHA(Workplace safety)
- Benefit plan issue→ERISA(Plan governance)
- Health coverage loss→COBRA(Continuation)
Relations Laws
- Title VII
- Protected class discrimination
- ADA
- Disability accommodation
- FMLA
- Job-protected leave
- FLSA
- Wage-hour rules
- NLRA
- Concerted activity rights
- OSHA
- Workplace safety
- ERISA
- Benefit plan governance
- COBRA
- Health coverage continuation
FMLA vs ADA
FMLA
- Job-protected leave
- Eligibility thresholds
ADA
- Reasonable accommodation
- Interactive process
Leave exhaustion may trigger ADA
Employee Relations
- Complaint
- Employee concern raised
- Investigation
- Fact-finding process
- Documentation
- Decision support record
- Progressive discipline
- Escalating corrective steps
- Retaliation
- Punishment for protected action
- Grievance
- Formal dispute process
- CBA
- Union contract
- TIPS
- Union conduct warnings
Clean Data
Reports need clean DATA.
DefinedAccurateTimelyAuthorized
Records vs Reports
Records
- Source evidence
- Retention rules apply
Reports
- Summarize data
- Decision support output
Bad records corrupt reports
HR Information
- HRIS
- Employee data system
- Personnel file
- Employment record
- Medical file
- Separate confidential record
- I-9
- Work authorization record
- Retention
- Required record period
- Access control
- Permission limits
- Data integrity
- Accurate complete records
- Dashboard
- Decision support view
Common Traps
Salary Is Not Exempt
Salary basis ≠ Duties analysis
FMLA Exhausted
Leave ended ≠ ADA still possible
Union Rights
Union workplace only ≠ Nonunion rights too
Fast Hiring
Post immediately ≠ Validate job first
Survey Results
Collect feedback ≠ Act on themes
Medical Details
Manager curiosity ≠ Need-to-know limits
Last Minute
- 1.Know seven domain weights
- 2.Relations is twenty percent
- 3.Use process before action
- 4.Document facts and rationale
- 5.Pay worked overtime first
- 6.FMLA can overlap ADA
- 7.Title never decides exemption
- 8.Validate metrics before reporting
- 9.Protect medical confidentiality
- 10.Nonunion workers have NLRA rights
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